Much like Biden’s State of the Union speech, Ginny Dickey’s State of the Town was equally self-congratulating and a bunch of puffery.

Dickey’s influence with Republican mayors and EVP CEO Lewis had little to do with them showing up, there was food and photo shoots to be had! As the first female president of the East Valley Partnership, I speak from experience having attended many such events in the same capacity as John Lewis. The Partnership is a multi-municipality membership organization of which Fountain Hills pays dues to, as does Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa.

As for Mesa's Mayor Giles, you may have caught him on TV this fall heartedly endorsing Democrat Mark Kelly. But as Mayor Dickey often points out, municipal elections are non-partisan.

I didn’t hear her say much about job creation or attracting an anchor employer, maybe she considers detox sites in residential neighborhoods to be economic development. Her Honor waxed on about the desirability of full-time residents at the same time she heralds apartments and more rentals known for attracting seasonal and transient populations. There was no mention of thousands of feet of empty commercial/retail space, the latest being Sears closing.

Democrats can be counted on to wax poetic, take credit for everything and govern poorly.